By Victoria Waldersee
ZURICH, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Spain is urging the EU to move towards creating a joint army for the bloc as a deterrence measure, Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said in comments to Reuters on Wednesday ahead of a day of meetings in Davos.
The region should focus first on bringing together its tangible assets to properly integrate its defence industry, and then mobilising a coalition of the willing, the foreign minister said.
The concern over whether European citizens would be willing to assemble militarily is a “legitimate debate”, but the chance of assembling a critical mass was higher as a bloc than on a national level, Albares said, adding: “A joint effort would be more efficient than 27 separate national armies.”
The comments come ahead of an emergency meeting between EU leaders later on Thursday in Brussels to coordinate a joint response to U.S. President Trump’s threats to buy or annex Greenland. A Council spokesperson confirmed late on Wednesday the meeting will still take place despite Trump’s announcement on social media that he and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had “formed the framework of a deal”.
Albares, speaking after a meeting in Delhi on Wednesday with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar which included talks on deeper defence ties, stressed that the intention of such an army was not to replace NATO, underscoring the importance of the transatlantic alliance.
“But we need to demonstrate that Europe is not a place that will let itself be coerced militarily or economically,” Albares said.
His position remained unchanged despite Trump rowing back on his Greenland threats after speaking to Rutte, a senior foreign official said, adding that Spain was “glad a pathway for dialogue had been opened within the NATO framework, if that pathway is confirmed.”
The concept of integrating national military forces into a supranational European army was first proposed in 1951 to counter the Soviet Union and ensure German rearmament did not threaten its neighbours, but was voted down by France’s parliament in 1954.
“The idea of European defence was part of the origin of the EU. It is up to my generation to finish this task,” Albares said.
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee in Zurich)
